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Validator (~30 min)

🧑‍🔬 detailed step-by-step instructions to get you up and running with a Validator on Pocket Network ✅

This is an in-depth walkthrough

See the Validator Cheat Sheet if you want to just copy-pasta a few commands.

Table of Contents ​

Introduction​

This guide will help you stake and run a Validator node on Pocket Network.

As a Validator, you'll be participating in the consensus of the network, validating transactions, and securing the blockchain.

Prerequisites & Requirements​

  1. CLI: Make sure to install the pocketd CLI.
  2. Synched Full Node: Ensure you have followed the Full Node Walkthrough to install and run a Full Node. Your node must be fully synced with the network before proceeding.

Ensure your node is running and fully synchronized with the network. You can check the synchronization status by running:

pocketd status
pocket user

If you followed Full Node Walkthrough, you can switch to the user running the full node (which has pocketd installed) like so:

su - pocket # or a different user if you used a different name

2. Account Setup​

To become a Validator, you need a Validator account with sufficient funds to stake.

2.1. Create the Validator Account​

Create a new key pair for your Validator account:

pocketd keys add validator

This will generate a new address and mnemonic.

⚠️ Save the mnemonic securely ⚠️.

2.2. Prepare your environment​

For convenience, we're setting several environment variables to streamline the process of interacting with the Shannon network:

We recommend you put these in your ~/.bashrc file:

export QUERY_FLAGS="--network=<NETWORK>" # e.g. local, alpha, beta, main
export TX_PARAM_FLAGS="--from validator --fees 200000upokt --network=<NETWORK>"
export ADDR=$(pocketd keys show validator -a)
export VALIDATOR_ADDR=$(pocketd keys show validator -a --bech val)
tip

Consider creating ~/.pocketrc and appending source ~/.pocketrc to your ~/.profile (or ~/.bashrc).

This will help keep your pocket specific environment variables separate and organized.

touch ~/.pocketrc
echo "source ~/.pocketrc" >> ~/.profile

2.3. Fund the Validator Account​

Run the following command to get the Validator:

echo "Validator address: $VALIDATOR_ADDR"

If you are using Beta Testnet, use the Shannon Beta TestNet faucet to fund the validator account.

If you are on Mainnet you'll need to transfer funds to the account:

pocketd tx bank send <SOURCE ADDRESS> $ADDR <AMOUNT_TO_STAKE>upokt $TX_PARAM_FLAGS

Afterwards, you can query the balance using the following command:

pocketd query bank balances $ADDR $QUERY_FLAGS
tip

If you know someone at Grove who maintains Beta TestNet, you can ask them to run this command:

pkd_beta_tx tx bank send faucet_beta $ADDR 6900000000042upokt

2.4. Back up Keys 🔑​

warning

Before you proceed ensure you have securely backed up your keys!!! Losing validator keys will result in SLASHING!

  • Back up your validator address key
  • Back up your priv_validator_key.json - used to sign blocks. Found in /pocketd/config/
  • Back up your node_key.json - used for P2P. Found in /pocketd/config/

3. Get the Validator's Public Key​

Your node has a unique public key associated with it, which is required for creating the Validator.

To retrieve your node's public key, run:

pocketd comet show-validator

This command outputs your node's public key in JSON format:

{ "@type": "/cosmos.crypto.ed25519.PubKey", "key": "YourPublicKeyHere" }

4. Create the Validator JSON File​

Create a JSON file named validator.json with the content below while make these changes:

  • Replace the "pubkey" value with the output from pocketd comet show-validator.
  • Update the "amount" field with the amount you wish to stake (e.g., "1000000upokt").
  • Set the "moniker" to your validator's name (validator is the default we provided).
  • You can optionally fill in "identity", "website", "security", and "details".
cat << 🚀 > validator.json
{
  "pubkey": {
    "@type": "/cosmos.crypto.ed25519.PubKey",
    "key": "YdlQyhjtrq9pk7afmz6oQ275L4FElzjzEJvB1fj3e1w="
  },
  "amount": "1000000upokt",
  "moniker": "validator",
  "identity": "",
  "website": "",
  "security": "",
  "details": "",
  "commission-rate": "0.100000000000000000",
  "commission-max-rate": "0.200000000000000000",
  "commission-max-change-rate": "0.010000000000000000",
  "min-self-delegation": "1"
}
🚀

5. Create the Validator​

Run the following command to create the validator:

pocketd tx staking create-validator ./validator.json $TX_PARAM_FLAGS

This command uses the validator.json file to submit the create-validator transaction.

Example with all parameters specified:

pocketd tx staking create-validator ~/validator.json $TX_PARAM_FLAGS

Some of the parameters you can configure include:

  • ~/validator.json: The path to your validator JSON file.
  • --from=validator: Specifies the local key to sign the transaction.
  • --network=<network>: Replace <network> with the name of the network you are joining (e.g., beta for testnet, main for mainnet).
  • --fees 20000upokt: Transaction fees currently configured on both beta and mainnet.

After running the command, you should see a transaction confirmation with an output hash.

6. Verify the Validator Status​

To verify that your Validator has been successfully created, run:

pocketd query staking validator $VALIDATOR_ADDR $QUERY_FLAGS

This command displays information about your Validator, including status, tokens staked, commission rates, and more.

Ensure that the status field indicates that your Validator is active: status: BOND_STATUS_BONDED.